Counting Crows: Underwater Sunshine

Counting Crows

Underwater Sunshine

Label:

Cooking Vinyl

Media:

LP

Genre:

Rock/pop

Ratings:

Music

Sonics

Their first album the Counting Crows recorded after leaving a major label, Underwater Sunshine consists entirely of covers, and as such comes across as an opportunity for the Bay Area band to recharge their batteries. Although the liner notes suggest some of the recording sessions involved a great deal of drama, the tone generally seems casual, which is part of the appeal of the record at the same time that it tends to make for less- than-compelling listening. A thoughtful selection combines songs by younger artists (including some precursors to the Counting Crows) with some by earlier country and classic rockers. What unites the old and the new is a strong dose of country-rock and folk-rock; compositions by Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan, Fairport Convention, and Pure Prairie League rest comfortably alongside songs by Dawes and The Romany Rye. If, like me, you have a soft spot for California bands of the late 60s and early 70s—I thought of Crazy Horse repeatedly while listening to Underwater Sunshine, and Workingman’s Dead popped into my head more than once—you should give a listen to this record where the warm, natural-sounding sonics and live-in-the-studio feel match the music dead-on.